The rise of the statehouse supermajority

11/28/12 10:15 AM EST

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that half the nation will have legislatures in which one party controls enough votes to override a governor’s veto, the highest level in at least a decade.

Twenty-one state legislatures were veto-proof heading into November. With Democrats losing veto power in one state and gaining it in two, Republicans losing veto power in three states and gaining it in six, and all other states holding steady, a whopping 25 states will have veto-proof legislatures when legislative sessions start up in the New Year.

The statehouse map has dramatically hardened just over the past decade, as Democrats have locked down the West Coast and the Northeast while Republicans have tightened their grip on the South.